Help Painting the Back Glass Black Please?

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Steveo McNello

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 30, 2010
2,009
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SW Burbs of Chicago
I bought some Valspar indoor flat black latex paint, as recommended, but it doesn't seem to be covering too well. Even with the second coat when I put it on it kind of pulls and leaves weird holes in the paint.

Right now I am practicing with a brush on my 10 gallon, but I will be rolling it on my 125 as recommended. Anybody ever encounter this? Will rolling give me better results? Is this the right paint?

How about this blizzard?!!
 
I've tried painting using a brush in the past, and as I recall you have to use a light brush stroke, and just build up using multiple coats--think 4-5. Rolling will probably provide better results, maybe using a one of the narrow trim rollers.

If you have the space to do it--large drop cloth to catch the over spray (it WILL go many times farther than you anticipate)--dollar store spray paint, or overstocked auto touch-up paint (as from Big Lots) works much better, with less chance of uncovered areas.
 
Steveo McNello;4851832; said:
Cool thanks a lot!
Click to expand...


Did you clean the glass? If it's orange peeling away and leaving little holes that have no paint on them it's because there is a residue on the glass of some sort... use rubbing alcohol and paper towl to clean the surface. I used the Fine Finish 4" roller and I needed about 3-4 coats for my satifactory...

I ALSO used a fan pointed at the paint and gave it a good hour to dry in between coats. If you don't make sure that the paint is dry enough, you'll get pieces peeling away from the glass onto the roller or pieces that smudge or kind of shift...

Just take your time and do it right. The Last thing that you want to do is Rush things and have it come out looking like Hellen Keller setup the tank... It's much nicer to sit back and enjoy the tank and "know" that it's all done right and that you practiced a little patience while doing it! :D

Take pics of everything too! Love to see a build logs! Check mine out if you need some ideas... Finished my 180 gallon Tropheus Tank back in January!

I just found another used FX5 on ebay for $58 that I added as a second. The First one I got for $50!
 
I did clean the glass very well, and I assumed I let the paint dry long enough. Maybe not though. That could be the problem.

And in everybody's opinion is this the right tank? Would a gloss paint matter?
 
I'm actually experiencing this same problem. I'm allowing 12+ hours between coats. I spent a rediculous amount of time cleaning the 3rd side(doing back and 2 sides.) to prevent the not clean enough... or atleast that is what I was assuming was happening.

I have tried rolling it on, and brushing it on, some holes will not fill in no matter what. This is even on the side where I used half a bottle of alcohol and like 80 paper towers and 30 minutes of scrubbing etc. I've sprayed tanks before, much easier. I wanted a custom blue-grey color as the background for this tank..
 
Whoops meant to type is this the right paint?*

And I'm glad I'm not alone with this crap. I wonder how spraying it would work. Sounds easier.
 
I just painted my 125 using the exact paint. Using a brush is definitely not going to give you the best results. Get a small roller, and if the roller doesn't 'roll' and starts to slide and push the paint, you're pushing too hard. Give it an hour with a fan on it and apply 2nd coat. I've never needed more than a third.
 
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